Golf course becomes emergency runway in New Jersey plane crash

Golf course becomes emergency runway in New Jersey plane crash

A small plane was forced to make an emergency landing on a New Jersey golf course Sunday, but the pilot and all three passengers escaped with only minor injuries.

Paramus Golf Course was covered with a morning frost that kept most golfers from playing and those who did play from getting out earlier than they normally would. That left the ninth fairway available and open as a makeshift runway.

The pilot took off from Lincoln Park (N.J.) Airport and was flying to Poughkeepsie (N.Y.). He suffered a power failure forcing him to make an emergency landing, police said.

The place circled above the landing area before coming down, witnesses said. The pilot was a New York science teacher named Jonas De Leon.

“Normally we are packed on a weekend,” Mr. Dorrell added. “But luckily, because of the frost, we didn’t have anyone out there on the back nine, so none of our golfers were injured,” Ron Dorell, a pro shop cashier, told the New York Times.

The Paramus course sits adjacent to Ridgewood Country Club, site of the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust.